BANK of Saipan on Saturday launched the first episode of an animated series on financial literacy “for ages 7 to 107.”
“Dollars & Sense” depicts a conversation between young cousins and their grandmother about spending, saving or borrowing money.
The videos can be watched on the Bank of Saipan’s YouTube channel: “Dollars & Sense, Episode I” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6p5aKdWB8Q
Takehide “TJ” Naputi, who played the youngest character Koku, said he himself learned the importance of saving money.
Naputi, who is a fourth grader at Garapan Elementary School, wants to join the military when he grows up.
Teihawny Villagomez, the voice of Koku’s 15-year-old cousin Kaya, said she learned how to budget her money. An eighth grader at Dandan Middle School, she aspires to be a cosmetologist someday.
Former Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Daisy Villagomez-Bier, who now works at the Community Guidance Center, portrayed the character of Nana, the grandmother of Koku and Kaya.
She said the financial literacy lessons apply to people of all ages. Throughout life, she said, “we go through financial challenges.”
But no matter where we are in life, she added, “we have an opportunity to get better and move forward.”
Villagomez-Bier thanked educator Laura Kyonka for sharing her expertise in developing the plot of the story to make it easily understood by the target audience.
The other educator instrumental in moving the project forward was Koniko Nakazato, a U.S. Army veteran who is now a special education teacher at Francisco M. Sablan Middle School in San Antonio.
As Nana in the series, Villagomez-Bier explained to Koku and Kaya that using a credit card to buy something is actually borrowing someone else’s money. “We have to pay it back and [pay] more when interest builds up,” she said.
Bank of Saipan launched the “Dollars and Sense” series of videos as it prepares to move to its brand new office in Chalan Laulau.
Bank president and chief executive officer John Z. Arroyo said there will be more episodes on earning, spending, saving and paying obligations.
He said the bank’s goal is to help enhance the financial well-being of CNMI residents.
The animated series, he added, aims to fill “the need for practical knowledge that is often taken for granted: money management.”
Arroyo added, “Many of us have grown up learning important lessons and life skills taught to us at school, by parents, family, and friends. Others we learn on the job. One very important lesson often missed is how to manage money. After being in the business for 30 years I have personally seen the lack of this knowledge among customers across the range of banks and the credit union where I have worked.”
He said banks and credit unions are now developing programs to educate young and old.
But “this effort by the Bank of Saipan is unique in that it is focused solely on the CNMI although the lessons taught are applicable anywhere else in the world,” Arroyo said.
The development of the series, he added, started a year ago, shortly after the Covid-19 restrictions shut down the island.
He said Bank of Saipan organized a contest to help keep school children busy and focused on family and friends during the lockdown. The bank solicited the help of island educators to put the contest together, and judge the submissions.
When the contest ended, they wanted to do more, Arroyo said. That was when the idea of an animated series was formulated.
Bank of Saipan president & chief executive officer John Z. Arroyo, right, and educator Koniko Nakazato, left, join the actors featured in “Dollars & Sense, Episode 1” during the launch of the video at the Bank of Saipan’s new office in Chalan Laulau on Saturday. From left, Nakazato, TJ Naputi as Koku, Daisy Villagomez-Bier as Nana, Teihawny Villagomez as Kaya and Arroyo.
Photo by Emmanuel T. Erediano
